Nowhere Left To Run - Part 2
by Lexxi Jones
Summary: My take on what might have happened next. I've read a few follow-on stories, but thought you might enjoy my version! Contains some bad language and adult themes.
1. Chapter 1

Nowhere Left to Run - Part Two

Chapter 1

"FUUUUCK!" shouted Dougie as he struggled to hold the church doors shut as the vampire bitches that had pursued him through the forest pounded relentlessly on the doors behind him.

He had barely made it in there with his life. He shut his eyes and gritted his teeth, concentrating with all his might on keeping them out. He fought back the tears as he thought about what had just happened. He had helped Tom and Danny kill Harry, who had turned out to be a vampire. Tom hadn't followed him out of the studio and in his panic; he had left Danny alone in the courtyard, shouting after him, standing over Fletch's body. He realised with a lurch in his heart that they were probably all dead by now and he grasped he was alone.

He was small, but he was strong and the adrenalin that coursed through him gave him the strength he needed to keep them at bay. After what seemed like hours, he realised that the banging had stopped. Cautiously, he turned around to face the door. He put his ear to it and listened. Nothing. Had they gone away or was it a trick? Had they found a different way in?

He still had his ear to the door when the banging started again. He leaped away from the door in fright. Then he heard a familiar voice; "Dougie! You in there? Let me in, for fuck's sake!"

Danny!

He started to lift the bar that was holding the door shut and then stopped. What if it was a trap? What if Danny had also become a vampire and was trying to get in to kill him too? "What the hell!" he said out loud and moved the bar to allow the door to open.

Danny fell in through the door and quickly turned to replace the bar. He looked at Dougie. "Mate, didn't you hear me shouting to you?"

"Yeah" said Dougie "'don't go into the woods!'" He spread his arms, hopelessly. "I panicked!" he said and shrugged.

Danny hugged him. "I'm glad you're ok!" he said. "Now we got to figure out what the fuck we're going to do now!"

They both slid down to the floor with their backs to the door and sat staring into space. "Harry's dead!" said Danny quietly, like Dougie didn't already know.

"Yeah" agreed Dougie, "and probably Tom too!"

"And Fletch" replied Danny. "Just you and me then!"

"Lads on tour!" said Dougie softly. Somehow the line wasn't as funny as it had been earlier.

Danny rested his head back against the door. "So now what?" he said, turning to look at Dougie.

"No idea" he replied. "I just ran!"

"We need to get back to the house, get to a car and get out of here!" said Danny.

"How did you make the vampires go away?" asked Dougie, suddenly remembering his earlier fear that Danny had also been turned.

Danny reached into his pocket and pulled out a rosary with a crucifix on it. He smiled and waved it at Dougie. "I took this from Fletch" he said. "Figured he wouldn't need it anymore. When I showed it to the vampires, they took off!"

Dougie ran his fingers through his hair. "But they'll be back!" he said. He looked around him. Something caught his eye. "Over there!" he pointed, "under the pews, there's a grate! Reckon it leads to a sewer or a tunnel or something?"

"It might do," replied Danny.

Just then, the banging and screeching started again on the doors behind them. Scrambling to their feet, they looked at each other in horror. Shoving his shoulder into the door as hard as he could, Danny yelled, "Go check it out! I'll hold them off!"

Dougie ran across the floor and skidded to a halt by the first row of pews. He tried to shove the benches out of the way, but the heavy wooden seats wouldn't budge. Dropping to his knees, he reached under the pew and scrabbled his fingers at the grate. It hadn't moved in years, centuries even, but somehow, he managed to hook his fingers into the intricate metalwork and yanked as hard as he could. He cried out in pain at the feeling in his fingers and then in joy as the grate began to move.

He looked back at Danny. He was watching Dougie as he forced his full weight against the door but Dougie could tell from the look on his face that he was running out of time. He reached for the grate again and gave it an almighty tug. It slid free of its resting place and clattered across the stone floor beside him. He commando crawled under the pew and looked down. It was pitch black and he couldn't tell what was down there.

Leaping to his feet, he grabbed the nearest object, a metal collection plate and dropped it into the abyss. He counted "one, two, thr..." he heard it hit the ground with a loud clatter. "It's not too deep!" he shouted to Danny. "I think we should just go for it". He rushed back over to the doors.

"Let's pile some stuff in front of the doors, give us a bit more time!" said Danny.

"Good idea" Dougie replied and they both left the doors and sprinted across the church and grabbed one end each of the first of the pews. Between them, they managed to half-carry, half-drag it across to the doors. They both scrambled back across to the hole in the floor. Dougie dragged the grate cover back towards the hole. "After you" he said, motioning towards the dark hole.

"Thanks!" said Danny sarcastically. Hesitating slightly, he turned around and swung his legs through the hole. Dropping down on his arms, he cautiously let go and was pleased when he only dropped a few feet. "I'm all right!" he shouted back up through the hole.

Dougie turned and grabbed the only candlestick that had remained lit and leant down through the hole to pass it to Danny. "Good thinking!" he said as he took it from him.

Dougie turned and dropped down through the hole. "Let me climb on your shoulders" he said to Danny, "Pull the cover back over the hole".

He struggled as he reached back up through the hole, but managed to position the cover back in place.

They both looked around them. They were in some kind of passageway. The light from the candles was better than nothing, but not by much. Danny suddenly remembered his iPhone in his pocket. He switched it on and found the flashlight app. That gave them more light.

As they looked around them, they wondered should they stay where they were until daylight or follow the passageway that might lead nowhere or might lead somewhere worse. Their decision was made for them as they suddenly realised the banging from the room above had now been joined by the sound of breaking glass. The vampires had clearly given up trying to break the door down and were now throwing things at the windows to try and get in that way instead.

Luckily, the windows in the church were all well above eight feet off the ground and were intricate leaded stained glass windows. Dougie was sure that it would be difficult for them to gain entry that way. Suddenly, all noise stopped and then the ominous silence was replaced by a crashing sound. They had finally managed to break through the door and were coming into the church! Dougie quickly extinguished the candles and Danny locked his phone with a snap. They were suddenly in almost complete darkness except for the small amount of light coming through the grate from the church above them.

Should they stay or should they go? It wouldn't take long for the vampires to figure out where they had gone, so between them they decided to try to find out where the passageway led. They headed to their left, which was slightly uphill; in the hopes it would return them to the mansion.

They half ran along the passageway, wary of what they might run into, the light from Danny's iPhone guiding them as their eyes became accustomed to it. After running for five minutes, they suddenly saw a shaft of light radiating down from the tunnel ceiling. They slowed and approached it cautiously. As they peered up at the light source, they could see it was another drainage grate. Danny put his hands together and gestured to Dougie, "Climb up, mate," he said. "I'll lift you up so you can take a look"

Dougie used Danny hands as a step and then clambered up onto Danny's shoulders. He grunted with the effort of trying to move the grate and although he was trying to be careful, his movements were making Danny wobble as he struggled to keep his balance.

Eventually, Dougie managed to shift the grate far enough to look out. He looked around, his eyes struggling to adjust to the light. The sun was beginning to rise and the view had the grey hue of dawn. With a start, Dougie realised what he was looking at. He looked down at Danny "We're in the ornamental garden! Just down from the parking area outside the main door to the house!"

He slid the grate fully away from the hole and pulled himself up and out of the hole. He lay on his stomach and extended his arms down to help Danny up. They both strained as Dougie conjured all of his strength to help lift his friend to safety. Eventually, Danny scrambled up and they both lay on the ground, breathing hard.

After a few moments, they had both recovered enough and, remembering the very real danger they were still in, sprang to their feet and sprinted across the lawn and back towards the house. The scene was exactly as Danny remembered leaving it only a few hours before. Fletch's body laid flat out on its back, next to the open door of the car that had failed Danny when he had needed it most.

Dougie and Danny just stood and stared for a few moments and then the sound of a blackbird heralding the dawn made them both jump. As they looked around them, they realised the colour was starting to return to the scene as the sun began to rise on the new day.

Visibly relieved, Danny said. "The sun's coming up! We should be safe now, right?"

"Yeah" agreed Dougie. "Vampires and sunlight definitely don't mix!" with a pang, he remembered the events of the day before, how they had first discovered what was really going on with Harry, when Lucy, their presenter friend had turned to a fireball and then ash in front of them.

Danny looked around him. All seemed quiet and there was no sign of the vampires who had pursued them so relentlessly coming after them. "So what now?" he asked, almost rhetorically.

"I think we should bury the bodies," said Dougie, quietly. They had lost so many people who were so important to them and it just seemed wrong to him for them to leave, abandoning their bodies to rot in this house of hell.

"OK" agreed Danny. "Let's go and find Harry and Tom..." his voice cracked slightly with emotion as he thought ahead to what they were about to do. He shook his head in disbelief and turned on his heel and headed back towards the house.

Dougie followed Danny in silence as they made their way back to the studio. The scene that greeted them was just like something out of a horror movie. Blood was spattered all over the walls; their guitars and Harry's drum kit. Danny looked wildly around him, "Where are they?!" he exclaimed.

Dougie looked behind Harry's drum kit, expecting to see the prone body of his friend. There was a huge, dark puddle, but no Harry! Dougie looked at Danny. "Harry's gone!" he said in disbelief.

"Yeah!" replied Danny. "So has Tom!" he indicated a second large puddle on the floor.

"So what does that mean?" asked Dougie. "They're still alive? Or someone has already been in and cleared up?"

"Harry definitely can't be alive!" said Danny. "You saw him! He was a full blown vampire and we drove that neck straight through his heart!"

"And no way could any living person survive losing that much blood!" said Dougie, indicating the patch on the floor where the cleaning girl had finally shown Tom how much she really wanted him.

Dougie shivered. "So where are they?" he looked around him, suddenly creeped out by not knowing what had happened to their friends.

"I think we should just get out of here, while we still can!" said Danny. Dougie nodded in agreement.

They went back out to the front of the house. The sunlight was now starting to appear over the treetops to the east. They both regarded the elderly Vauxhall. This was their only hope of motorised escape, but as Danny tried to start the engine once again, the starter motor span but the engine just wouldn't fire into life. The driveway was flat, so bump starting the car was out of the question. Danny pulled the bonnet release catch and they both peered into the engine bay as if the answer would suddenly appear.

Then it did, "Look!" said Dougie, pointing at the distributor cap. It was not clipped fully into place. He reached across Danny, who moved out of his way and allowed Dougie to close the clasp that held the cap closed. After carefully checking the back seats, Danny climbed into the driver's seat and tried the engine once more. It was a little sluggish and reluctant, but eventually it fired into life!

"Yes mate!" exclaimed Danny, clapping his hands together. Dougie slammed the bonnet shut and ran around the car. He jumped into the passengers seat and Danny wheel span away from the ill-fated house.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

They drove in silence for quite a while. Danny glanced at Dougie from time to time. He was just staring out of the window. Danny knew exactly how he must have been feeling. This was deep, this was dreadful, and this was unbelievable. Danny switched the radio on. The CD Fletch had been listening to swirled into life and their demo of "End of the World" blared out of the speakers.

Dougie punched the off button. "Don't think I'm ever gonna be able to listen to that fucking song ever again!" Danny grimaced, "Yeah, mate, I know exactly what you mean".

The silence stretched on as they both reflected on what had happened. It had been horrendously traumatic digging a hole and burying Fletch's body, but no way were they leaving him there like that. Having carefully searched the house from top to bottom and finding no sign of Tom or Harry, they had to figure out what to do next.

Danny exhaled loudly. "So what the fuck do we do now?"

"I haven't got the faintest idea!" Dougie replied, exasperation in his voice.

"We need to speak to someone…but who..?" said Danny.

"Richard" said Dougie quietly. "We need to go and speak to Richard".

"Seriously?!" said Danny, glancing at Dougie in astonishment. "And say what exactly? 'Hi, Richard, Harry turned out to be a vampire and we killed him and Tom got killed and Fletch knew all along and he's dead too?!'"

"Well, what do you suggest then?" Dougie retorted.

Danny thought for a moment. He realised Dougie was right. A sudden realisation hit him: "Oh god!" he exclaimed, swerving the car sharply. "Gi! And Izzy! What the hell are we going to tell them?"

"Christ!" said Dougie. "I had forgotten about them! We need help! No way can I tell either of those girls their men are dead!"

The gravity of the situation began to hit home as they continued their painfully silent journey. The more he thought about it, Danny realised Dougie probably was right.

"So" said Danny, eventually. "Do you want to phone Richard…see if he's around?" Their other manager split his time between the US and the UK but was likely to be staying at the New Continental as he always did.

Having absolutely no clue what he was about to say, Dougie fished his phone out of his pocket and dialled Richard's number. He answered almost immediately.

Dougie briefly asked if he was at the hotel and explained there had been a serious accident at the mansion and that he and Danny were on their way back to London and really needed to speak to him.

"He'll be waiting for us at the hotel" Dougie said, turning to Danny.

"What did he say?" asked Danny, eager to know.

"He said he was sorry, but I kind of got the feeling he knew…"

Danny thought for a moment. "Well, Fletch knew…"

After a few hours, they arrived at the hotel. The valet raised his eyebrows slightly as Danny and Dougie got out of the car. He recognised them both immediately, but was used to seeing them in much better cars. He smiled as he took the keys from Danny and the boys headed inside.

Richard was waiting for them in the bar. He stood up as they walked into the room and held his arms out to greet them, a cheery smile on his face.

His smile evaporated as he took in the sight slouching its way across the room. Dishevelled, dirty and looking miserable, these weren't the boys he was used to seeing.

"Guys!" said Richard. "What's happened?"

Danny glanced around the bar. "Can we go somewhere private? It's a bit sensitive."

"Sure!" said Richard and ushered them off to the lifts. Once in the safety of his room, Danny cleared his throat and said "Did you notice anything unusual about Harry recently?"

Richard laughed nervously and said "Like what? And since when?"

"Behaving more weirdly than usual since we got back from our trip to Eastern Europe?"

Richard sighed and looked at the floor. "Yeah…yeah, he was…I think you'd better tell me what's happened".

Dougie and Danny took it in turns to tell Richard everything that had happened from beginning to end. His eyes widened as he looked from one to the other as they regaled the sorry tale.

When they had finished, Richard was speechless and ran his fingers through his hair and rubbed his eyes. He slumped into a chair. When he finally spoke, his voice was quiet. "So let me get this straight. Harry is dead? Tom is dead? Fletch is dead?"

"Yeah" replied Danny. "That just about sums it up"

"And you buried them in the grounds of the mansion?" Richard asked.

Dougie and Danny looked at each other. "Er no…" said Dougie. "Just Fletch. When we got back Harry and Tom had gone".

"Gone?!" said Richard in amazement. "How could they have gone?"

"No idea" said Danny. "We searched the house from top to bottom and there was no sign of them. Just the blood left on the floor in the studio"

"So they could still be alive?" asked Richard.

Danny laughed, humourlessly, "You tell me?" he asked. "I still can't believe any of this is even possible! I didn't believe in vampires until last night!"

"Neither did I, until Fletch told me what had happened…." Richard began and then broke off as he saw Danny and Dougie gaping at him.

"Wait" said Dougie, "You knew about this as well?"

"How could you have sent us off knowing what Harry had become?" Danny added.

Richard shrugged his shoulders and spread his arms "We didn't think he would turn on you if Fletch kept him satisfied with a constant stream of girls"

"He didn't turn on us," said Dougie sadly. "We turned on him".

Ignoring his comment, Richard continued, almost as though he was talking to himself "We had people working on a way to get him back…guess I'll have to tell them to stop…"

"There was a way to reverse it?" said Dougie incredulously. "Why didn't you tell us?"

"We didn't know if there was!" Richard replied. "We were just looking into it".

"So what do we do now?" Dougie asked. "We've got to tell Gi and Izzy…and the fans…what do we do?"

Richard snapped back into his job. "Leave that to me. We will say there has been a terrible accident and they have been killed. It will be rough, but that's all we can do. No way can anyone know the truth".

After a little more conversation, Dougie and Danny left Richard's room and headed back down to the lobby. They had decided to abandon the Vauxhall and got the hotel receptionist to book them a private taxi. As they waited for it to arrive, Danny and Dougie sat huddled close together, trying not to draw attention to themselves.

Suddenly, Dougie turned to Danny. "I think we should go back to the mansion!"

"What?!" said Danny. "You can't be serious?!"

"I'm deadly serious," replied Dougie. "They'd gone! How could they just disappear like that? Dead bodies don't just get up and walk away!"

Danny struggled to grasp what Dougie was saying. "No" he said finally. "No, you're right. They definitely don't." He looked down at the floor. "So what are you thinking?"

"That they're NOT dead!" said Dougie whispering loudly in his excitement. "That they're still alive! We can't just abandon them!"

"But it's not really them any more…it definitely wasn't Harry and if Tom's gone the same way…"

"But Richard said about reversing the effects on Harry!" said Dougie insistently. "Mate, we could get them back!"

Danny wasn't convinced. "Richard only said he was investigating the possibility.." he broke off and ran his fingers through his hair in exasperation "Mate! This is ridiculous! How is this even happening?!"

"I don't know" Dougie agreed. "But it is and we have to decide how we're dealing with it"

"I'm really not sure it's a good idea to go back…what if the vampires are still there?"

"We'll make sure we're prepared for them this time" Dougie replied.

"No" said Danny firmly. "It's too dangerous." A thought occurred to him. "We could go back to Romania, to the strip club where it all started, we might get some answers there!" He regretted saying it as soon as the words were out of his mouth.

"Yes!" said Dougie excitedly. "We should definitely do that!" He whipped his phone out of his pocket.

"What are you doing?" asked Danny.

"Phoning Richard to tell him what we are planning! Don't want him telling everyone they're dead if we can bring them back! We'd have to change the name of the band.."

"McUndead?" said Danny quietly, shaking his head in disbelief. He was still struggling to come to terms with the fact that any of this was happening, that it was real, that it was actually possible.

Dougie finished on the phone just as their taxi arrived, having persuaded Richard to keep quiet for the time being. Richard had tried his best to talk Dougie out of going back to Romania, but Dougie's resolve stood firm and there was no way he was being dissuaded.

Danny and Dougie chatted quietly in the back of the taxi on the way back to their houses. They decided not to tell Georgia or Lara what had happened for the time being, but rather to say they were extending their album recording session a bit longer and were off to a secret location.

They met up again a short while later, having thrown some clothes into bags and booked flights to Romania for later that evening. Feeling nervous, they set off for the airport.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

A few short hours later, they were stepping off the plane in Bucharest. It was dusk, nearly nine o'clock at night. As they crossed the apron and waited for their suitcases in baggage reclaim, Danny and Dougie chatted quietly.

"I don't think we should risk going to the strip club tonight" said Danny. "Now we know what went on there, we don't want the same to happen to us".

Dougie nodded. "Yeah, I agree. I reckon we should just head to a hotel and get some kip and then head there in daylight tomorrow".

Their bags soon arrived from the small plane and they took them and headed out of the airport. They went to the information desk and asked for details of hotels. They both found it a little strange that they were able to walk around completely incognito. They were virtually unknown in Eastern Europe and both were enjoying the anonymity this afforded them.

After a quick glance through the list of hotels, they decided on the Hilton as it was going to be comfortable but was surprisingly well priced. They went outside the airport and hailed a taxi and requested their destination.

It took about half an hour to get to the hotel and once they had paid the driver and checked into the hotel, they closeted themselves into their room as night fell. They were both still quite shaken up by what had happened and, although they would probably not have admitted it to each other, a little scared to venture out on the streets of Bucharest after dark.

They ordered room service and spent the evening researching vampires on Danny's MacBook. Most of the sites they looked at were full of nothing more than myth, but they did learn a little about how vampires were apparently sired and how they can be killed.

"Well that doesn't really matter!" said Danny, pointing at the screen. "We already know how to make and stake them!"

They continued searching and found a few legends about how vampires can be resurrected, but mostly, their searching just turned up results from fantasy TV shows and movies.

They decided to change tack and began investigating the club they had been to. They had been taken there by the Romanian "fixer" that had organised the whole of their Eastern European tour and they didn't have any contact details for him. Richard had also been very vague about any of the details of their trip, nor would he give them names of the people who he had tasked with researching reversal of Harry's transformation. They felt as though they were onto a hiding to nothing from the start.

Frustrated, Danny slammed the lid of the laptop shut. "This is pointless!" he shouted. "What the fuck are we doing here?"

"It's not pointless," replied Dougie. "We don't know until we try! We've got to try, for Harry and for Tom. They'd do the same for us!"

"Yeah" agreed Danny, calming down. "Yeah. We'll go to the club tomorrow and try to get some answers if we can".

They both passed a restless night and in the morning, both were itching to get going and start getting whatever answers they could.

They had found the location of the club using Google maps. It was called "_Spiritul lui bantuie_" which they had found roughly translated to "Spirit's Haunt".

"Should've asked what the club's name meant," Danny said, ruefully when they found it. "Might have thought twice about going there!"

"I don't remember us having much choice!" Dougie had replied.

The club was a short Metro journey away and they managed to find their way there quite easily. As they walked down the quiet street towards the club, Dougie shivered. "Yeah, this is definitely the place!" he said. "I remember that church over there!" he pointed at a sinister looking building with multiple steeples and a clock that was permanently stuck on midnight.

But, as they approached the club, they were distraught to see that all its windows were boarded up and there was a heavy chain and thick padlock securing the bolt on the door. A sign on the door read "_Închise până la o notificare ulterioară_".

They didn't really feel like banging on the door, so instead peered through the gaps in the boards across the windows, but it was completely dark inside so they couldn't see a thing.

Futilely, Danny lifted the padlock on the door and gave it a shake. To his enormous surprise, the shackle dropped out of its body and the chain fell to the ground with a loud clatter. Leaping away in fright at the noise, Danny and Dougie looked at each other and then at the padlock in Danny's hand and the chain now piled on the floor in front of the door.

Cautiously, they approached the door. Putting his ear to it, Dougie listened intently, but couldn't hear any sound coming from inside. Danny whispered "Anything?"

Dougie shook his head "No, can't hear a thing".

"Try the door," whispered Danny, looking around the deserted street to see if anyone was watching them.

Gingerly, Dougie turned the handle. It was very stiff and he was careful to turn it slowly but eventually, the door clicked open. Expecting it to creak loudly like a door from a horror movie, Dougie gradually inched the door open. To his surprise, the big heavy door moved swiftly on its hinges and swung open easily.

Danny and Dougie carefully peered into the room, blinking to allow their eyes to become accustomed to the gloom. They sidled into the room and stood looking around them. The main room of the club looked exactly as they had remembered it. The bar was off to one side; broken bottles littered its surface. Tables and chairs were scattered around the room, some upended, some still standing. Glasses and plates stood on some of the tables. They could also see the red curtain concealing the side room that the two strippers had taken Harry through for what he had blearily described as "the lap dance of my life".

They crept slowly down the staircase that led to the club floor and looked around them.

"It looks exactly as I remember it!" said Dougie.

"Yeah, apart from when we left it didn't look like a warzone!" replied Danny with a wry laugh.

They wandered around the room, looking at the various objects littered about the room, hoping to find something significant, but there was nothing.

Danny turned his attention to the red velvet curtains sectioning off the side room. Cautiously, he peered round the edge of one and glanced around the room. A single chair sat in the centre of the room and he could see dark stains on the floor. Inching into the room, Danny knelt down and scratched at one of the stains. It flaked off under his fingernails and he held it up and peered at it. It appeared to be dark brown and when he sniffed it, it smelt like rust. "Blood" he thought to himself in disgust, wiping the powdery residue on his jeans.

Dougie suddenly appeared through the curtains, causing Danny to shriek in fright. "Mate!" he exclaimed. "You nearly gave me a fucking heart attack!"

"Sorry!" said Dougie, "but I wondered where you'd gone! You scream like a girl!" he giggled.

"Blood" Danny said, ignoring him and pointing at the stains that virtually covered the floor, "this must be where Harry got turned".

Dougie looked around the room ruefully surveying the place where his friend had become a monster. He noticed something shiny that seemed out of place over in the corner of the room. He started to make his way across to investigate when suddenly a hoarse voice shouted: "Ce faci aici?!"

Danny and Dougie whipped around sharply to see a hunched bearded old man shuffling towards them. He had not come through the curtains, so there must have been another entrance into the room they had not seen.

"Am închis." said the man. "Nu poți citi?"

"We…we we're sorry!" said Danny. "We don't understand what you're saying!" He and Dougie were clutching each other, frozen to the spot in terror.

"Ah" said the old man chuckling. "You English?" his accent was thick. "What are you doing here?" he repeated. "We are closed. Did you not see the sign?"

"No, sorry" said Dougie lamely. "We were here before and had such a great time we thought we'd come back for another visit!" he laughed nervously.

The old man laughed again, cackled almost. "Sooo, you had great time, eh? If you here during the day now your time was not so great!"

Danny decided it was now or never. "Our friend" he began, "when we were here before, he was brought in here and he…and he hasn't been the same since".

The old man regarded them suspiciously. "Your friend" he said "He vampire?"

Taken slightly aback by the directness of the question, Danny answered "W..well, yes"

"Is shame" said the old man. "He fine man".

"Wh..what do you mean?" asked Dougie nervously.

"I remember you," said the old man, gesturing towards them. "You came in, you very popular with girls!"

In spite of everything, Danny and Dougie couldn't help but feel a little pleased at what he was saying.

"You not vampires though" said the old man, eyeing them closely. "Why you here? Why you come back all this way?"

"We're trying to find out if there is a way to save our friend!" said Dougie.

"Ha!" the old man exclaimed. "If he vampire he not deserve saving!"

"Are you…are you a vampire?" asked Danny.

"Danny…" Dougie began reproachfully.

"No!" shouted the old man suddenly with a voice that did not match his aged years. "I am Halimar! I am vampire hunter!"

Dougie and Danny looked at each other with a mixture of relief and renewed terror.

The old man continued, "I open this club to trap Bucharest nest of vampires! I kill king vampire and wait for rest to die! But they do not! They keep looking for new leader, for new king! Your friend, he was to be their new king!"

Unable to speak, Dougie and Danny gaped at Halimar as he shuffled towards them.

"But you left after dawn and the vampires not able to consummate the transformation! So they still without leader. Then, I kill them all when they weak!"

Halimar shuffled closer. By now, Danny and Dougie were virtually trapped in the corner of the room. Halimar reached out one trembling arm and lifted the shiny object Dougie had noticed earlier and with a flourish waved it in front of the musician's faces.

"This dagger" said Halimar "Is '_Sacru Pumnal_', 'sacred dagger'. Is what is used in ceremony of transformation".

Dougie and Danny regarded the dagger doubtfully as Halimar continued to speak. "Sacred dagger used to kill vampire also. It make vampire. It also destroy."

"But he _is_ dead!" said Dougie, his voice still trembling slightly.

Looking slightly disappointed, Halimar dropped the dagger to his side, still clutching it in his wizened hand. "He is dead?"

"Yeah," said Danny and they told him how they had electrocuted Harry and then driven the guitar neck through his heart.

Halimar cackled again, with renewed vigour. "Foolish boys!" he laughed. "That not kill vampire! You watch too many movies! Only removing head or sunlight will kill vampire! Body must become dust!"

For the umpteenth time that day, Danny and Dougie stared at each other in disbelief. "So you mean…" Dougie started.

"Your friend – he lives!" said Halimar dramatically.

Danny swallowed. "Is there any way to bring him back?"

Halimar regarded him warily again. "Why you want bring him back? Why you not kill him?"

"'Cos he's our mate!" said Danny. "If there's a way to bring him back, we want to try!"

Halimar sighed. "There is way," he said. "But it very hard". He reached past Dougie and Danny to the shelf once more, which they could now see was actually an altar of some kind.

"You take this" he held up a small brown object. It looked like a large walnut. "This is '_Piatră de Renaștere_'; 'Stone of Rebirth'." He placed it into Dougie's hand. "You boil it in holy water, use _Sacru Pumnal_ to shave off portion and make potion."

Dougie and Danny didn't see how this could help bring Harry back, but they didn't say anything.

"Then" said Halimar softly, "When vampire drink potion – boom!" his sudden shout made Dougie and Danny jump once again "Vampire re-transformation is started!"

He beckoned for them to move closer. "Then, when vampire unconscious, you place in midday sun and read this!" he produced a roll of parchment from goodness knows where and vampire is turned back! It not always work…but…"

Halimar thrust the sacred dagger into Dougie's hand. "I see you have great affection for friend. You good boys, you mean well. I help you. Take dagger and stone and good luck. Now, you go, leave this place and never return!"

Taking this as their cue to leave, Danny and Dougie thanked the old man and hurried out of the room. As they emerged, blinking into the sunlight, they both felt lucky to have escaped with their lives.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

They hot-footed it back across the city, to the relative safety of their hotel room. Night was drawing in again and they planned to discuss the day's events.

Once they had eaten, they looked at the artefacts Halimar had given them. On closer inspection, the dagger didn't seem to be anything special. "It looks like a plastic knock-off of a Lord of the Rings prop!" Danny said, turning it over in his hands.

Dougie examined the stone. It did just look like a giant walnut, wrinkled and brown and it had a strange musty odour. It was slightly squashy and seemed like a fruit that was past its best, rather than a mystical stone.

But it was the parchment that perplexed them the most. "He just happened to have it on him?" Danny had said, sceptically.

"Yeah" agreed Dougie. "The exact right parchment for the exact right situation? Seems a bit unlikely if you ask me!"

They unrolled it. The paper was thick and heavy and seemed to have some age to it. There were random marks and tears on it and it was creased and curly like it had been rolled and unrolled many times.

A quick visit to Google translate revealed it was written in Romanian. Danny translated the title: "_Un descântec pentru a învinge demonul_" - "_A chant to vanquish the demon_".

"That's a bit dramatic!" scoffed Dougie. They read on some more.

"_Ceasul va lovi douăsprezece din soarele amiezii_" – "_The clock will strike twelve of the midday sun_"

"_Uite vampir poate ucide, dar aceasta nu înseamnă doom_" – "_The vampire's look can kill, but it doesn't mean doom_"

Danny and Dougie looked at each other. "This is starting to sound strangely familiar…" said Danny.

"But how…" Dougie started. "It sounds a bit like '_Party Girl'_, but we haven't released that yet! How can it be written on this scroll?"

"I've got no idea!" Danny said, completely baffled.

"This is all far too geeky for my liking!" Danny exclaimed! "All these spells and potions and sacred shit! Where's Tom Fletcher when you need him? This is all like something out of '_War of Worldcraft_'!"

"'_World of Warcraft'_" mumbled Dougie quietly, correcting Danny's error. Normally, he would have found his mistake hilarious but this just didn't seem like the time.

The rest of the scroll was some kind of spell to rid the demon spirit from the body it inhabited, but Danny and Dougie were both totally weirded out by the similarity of the first few lines of the parchment to a song they had written themselves. Not quite knowing what to make of it, they settled down to a restless night, both of them tossing and turning constantly thinking about the events that might be about to unfold.

The following day, having found what they came for, they headed back to the airport and returned home. They had decided on the flight home that they had nothing to lose by returning to the mansion and attempting to find and, if they were still alive, cure and return Tom and Harry back to themselves.

They collected Danny's car from the airport and decided against returning home as they did not want to have to explain themselves to Georgia or Lara just yet, so instead, they headed straight back to the ill-fated mansion. They called in on the way to pick up some supplies and it was just after lunch when they arrived, so they knew they had missed their opportunity for the transformation for that day, so they decided to just scope out the house and see if anything was happening.

They parked up a short way from the house so as not to announce their arrival to anyone who might be watching and stealthily approached the house. They decided to cut through the woods to the side so that they didn't crunch across the gravel driveway and draw attention to themselves. As they crouched in the bushes and surveyed the scene in front of them, both men felt an increasing sense of anxiety and trepidation about what was to come.

"Looks all quiet!" commented Danny in hushed tones.

"Yeah, no activity at all" Dougie agreed.

Standing up slowly, Danny peered over to the garden where they had buried Fletch's body. He could just make out the mound of earth. Although it was difficult to see from his vantage point, it appeared to be undisturbed. He crouched back down and looked at Dougie, who just nodded. It wasn't necessary for him to say what he had seen; they both understood the situation.

A sudden noise from inside the house startled them. It was a loud screeching, shrieking sound, like an animal in pain. Shuddering in fright, they both crept further back into the cover of the wood. The noise came again suddenly. Danny snuck forwards to try and work out where it was coming from.

"I can't be sure" he said, "but it sounded like it came from the top floor – where Harry slept…"

"Maybe it's him?" Dougie wondered.

"Not sure" Danny replied. "It sounded like an animal in pain"

Dougie looked grim-faced at Danny. "Maybe it was? Maybe that's what he has now become?"

They decided to leave the mansion and head back to the car. They had passed a church a while back and if their plan was to succeed, they would need holy water. The church was deserted, but the door was unlocked, so they slowly went in and used the water canteens they had brought with them to collect water from the font.

"This is like something out of '_The Lost Boys'_! We should have brought water pistols!" Dougie commented. Danny didn't laugh.

As night fell, they returned once more to the house. They could hear thumping bass as they approached and took up their observation spot in the bushes. There were a number of cars parked in the front yard area and there was clearly a party in full swing.

Laughter, shrieks and cheers emanated from the house. It was very reminiscent of the celebration party Fletch had thrown for them, just before they found out what had been going on and why Harry had been so keen for the constant stream of girls to be maintained.

Their curiosity overriding their fear, Danny and Dougie crept closer to the house and gathered all their courage and peered in through one of the windows. They saw a typical party scene. The drinks were flowing freely, the music was loud and the guests were cavorting on the dance floor.

Suddenly, Danny saw Tom walk across the room. He only barely managed to stop himself from shouting out loud. He whipped round and sat back down under the window next to Dougie.

"What?!" whispered Dougie urgently.

"Tom!" Danny hissed back excitedly. "He's in there! Alive! Well…walking and talking and smiling!"

"Did he see you?" asked Dougie in a low voice.

Danny shook his head. "No, he didn't" and with that he peeped back up through the window. Dougie joined him and they both saw Tom wandering around the room. He was mingling with the partygoers but was concentrating almost solely on the girls.

It was clearly Tom, but it didn't look like Tom. He was dressed completely in black, with a long black trenchcoat and his hair was styled in a completely different way to normal. Danny looked at Dougie, "He doesn't look like Tom. He looks like a vampire, doesn't he?"

"Yeah" agreed Dougie sadly.

"No sign of Harry…" said Danny.

"No" Dougie's voice was even sadder this time.

They stayed for a while and grew increasingly concerned and frightened by what they saw. As the night wore on, Danny and Dougie noticed how the number of men at the party seemed to be growing less and different girls kept disappearing from the room and coming back a while later, talking and flirting with Tom and then continuing to mingle.

"We've got to get in there!" said Danny. "We've got to find out what's going on!"

Dougie shook his head in fear. "Are you crazy?" he said. "Tom would recognise us straight away and we'd be dead meat in an instant!"

Danny frowned. He couldn't think straight. He couldn't figure out what was the best thing to do.

"We need to get Tom on his own" he said finally. That's the only way we're going to have a hope in hell of trying to get him back!"

Dougie nodded in agreement. "We also need to make the potion" he frowned. "How the fuck are we going to get him to drink it? We can't exactly walk up to him and go 'Hi Tom! Fancy a drink?' He'd kill us soon as look at us!"

Danny thought again. He was getting a headache. He rubbed his eyes and ran his fingers through his hair in frustration.

"Right!" he said finally. "Right! We need to go and make the potion up. When we've got it we can then at least use it if we get the opportunity!"

"Good plan!" Dougie agreed. They got to their feet and stole back through the woods to Danny's car.

Dropping the tailgate of the Range Rover, they set up Dougie's portable gas stove and emptied one of the canteens of Holy Water into a saucepan. They brought it to the boil and then dropped in the "_Stone of Rebirth_" and waited.

"How long do we let it boil for?" Danny asked.

"Not sure" Dougie replied. "Halimar didn't give us a recipe!"

They decided to let it boil for ten minutes. As they watched, it steadily changed colour from dark brown to bright orange.

When they fished it out from the water, it looked like a completely different object.

Using the '_Sacred Dagger_', which was surprisingly sharp, Danny cautiously cut into the stone.

"It's soft!" he exclaimed! "It's like cutting into a ball of mozzarella or something!"

Dougie prodded the strange object cautiously. Then he touched it again. "It's stone cold!" he cried in surprise. "Touch it Danny!"

Hesitantly, Danny touched the orange artefact with one finger. Then he laid his palm across it. "You're right!" he said. "It's completely cold! But it's just been boiling for ten minutes! How is that possible?"

Dougie shrugged and then said, "Maybe it _does_ have some mystical properties?"

Danny carefully sliced off a small sliver from the soft ball and placed it into a beaker of holy water. He swirled it around and before their eyes, the piece dissolved and turned the water bright orange. Gentle steam began to rise from the surface of the plastic beaker.

"Woah!" said Dougie, pointing at the beaker. "Look at that! Is it hot?"

Danny dipped the point of his little finger into the liquid. "No" he said. "It's completely cold. Weird!"

They cut another sliver from the stone and made another beaker of the strange potion. They then decanted it into two separate canteens and made ready to return to the mansion.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five

Dawn was breaking as Danny and Dougie made their way back to the house. Both were yawning their heads off, but they knew that daybreak was their only chance to look around and find out what was going on in relative safety.

The house was in virtual silence when they arrived. A quick look through the window revealed a deserted party room. All the guests seemed to have disappeared, but many cars still littered the front yard.

"So where is everyone?" asked Danny, indicating the cars.

Dougie shrugged. "They must still be here, somewhere, I guess"

The thought of all the partygoers still being somewhere in the house, possibly having been converted to vampires was quite terrifying, but, they had to start their searching to find out what was going on.

Ensuring the canteens of potion were safely attached to their belts, they approached the front door of the house and tried the door. It opened with some difficulty and Danny had to ease it open slowly to make sure it didn't creak loudly and wake the whole house.

Once inside, they waited a few moments for their eyes to adjust to the gloom. Dougie whispered to Danny "Do you think we should split up?"

"No way!" said Danny quickly.

Together, they crept through the lobby and into the room where the party had been held. Balloons and empty glasses littered the floor, as did plates of half eaten food.

As they stole across the room, neither was looking at the floor and very nearly tripped over a prone figure lying on the floor. Danny and Dougie grabbed each other for support as they gawped at the body on the floor. It was a man, lying in a dark pool of what was almost certainly blood. His eyes and mouth gaped open and tell tale marks on his neck and face told the sad story of how he met his end. As they looked around the room, they could see more bodies lying on the ground. They briefly investigated some of them. All were male, all were dead.

In disgust, Danny and Dougie left the room as fast as they could. Once outside the door, Dougie said "All those dead bodies! They were all men? Did you see?"

"Yeah" agreed Danny, breathlessly. "There must have been twenty or more of them"

"Do you think they will all become vampires?" Dougie asked, worried they were about to be pursued by an army.

Danny shrugged. "No idea! But I really don't want to hang around to find out!"

They continued down the hallway and arrived at the bottom of the main staircase.

They both looked up the staircase carefully to make sure no one was coming down and then slowly began to go up.

They knew which room had been Tom's and, knowing him to be a creature of habit, thought it likely he was still sleeping there.

As they listened intently at the door, they could hear the sound of at least one person breathing deeply, as though asleep. They decided to risk it and slowly inched the door open.

On the bed, as expected, Tom slept. Also on the bed, which they had not expected, were at least half a dozen, semi-clad girls. Luckily, they were also all asleep. Not wanting to risk waking them, Danny quickly shut the door again and motioned for Dougie to head back to the staircase.

Once safely outside again, they retreated to the safety of the woods.

"What the hell was that?" Dougie exclaimed.

"Loads of dead blokes and Tom asleep with a bunch of vampire babes?" Danny said, stating the obvious.

"Yeah" said Dougie, rolling his eyes. "How the hell are we gonna get Tom on his own to get this potion down him?"

Danny rubbed his eyes again. "I've got no idea!"

"If we just head in there now, they'll overwhelm us in no time!" said Dougie. "Remember what they did to Bruce?"

Danny shuddered as he recalled the bloody scene Harry's vampire sex slaves had created from his intended replacement.

Danny looked up at Dougie. "Tom's likely to throw another party tonight, right?"

Dougie nodded. "Most probably, yeah"

Danny hesitated before saying "I'll go along to the party and tell Tom I want to join him. If I can gain his trust, I might be able to get him to drink the potion".

Dougie shook his head furiously. "No way mate! No way! He'll kill you and turn you into a vamp for sure!"

Danny shrugged. "He might not. Have you got a better idea?"

Dougie thought for a while. Then he slowly shook his head. "No" he said sadly. "No I haven't".

Something was still bothering Dougie. Where was Harry? Remembering what Halimar had said, he couldn't be dead. So what had happened to him?

They decided to go back closer to the house and had been sitting, quietly chatting through ideas when they heard voices coming from within the house. Sneaking back to the window, they carefully peeped over the sill to see what was going on. Tom was standing casually in the doorway to the party room watching as the vampire girls he had been asleep with dragged the bodies of the men to the doorway. They then set about the pools of congealed blood on the floor with mops and buckets. Tom had a self-satisfied smile on his face as he watched. He made no effort to help. He was clearly in charge and relishing being so.

As they were finishing up, Tom called the nearest girl to him over. He spoke to her quietly and she nodded and disappeared off.

"Wonder where he's sent her?" Danny wondered out loud.

Just then, Tom looked over at the window where Danny and Dougie were peering in. It was only a fleeting glance, but it freaked them out and they scrambled back into the woods.

"Do you think he saw us?" panted Dougie when they felt they had run to safe distance.

Danny shook his head, too out of breath to speak. "Don't think so," he finally gasped. "But it was like he knew where to look".

They waited for a while and then decided to creep back to make sure they hadn't been spotted. The party room was now deserted and the pile of dead bodies had also gone.

"What now?" Dougie asked.

Danny shrugged. "Dunno. Why don't we have a look around the back?"

Dougie nodded. They needed to scope the place out a bit if they were to have a hope of coming up with a plan.

Cautiously, they made their way around to the back of the house. There was a lot of shade and as they rounded the corner, a disgusting smell hit their nostrils.

"Urrgh! What's that?" sniffed Dougie in repulsion.

Danny pulled a face and pointed. They peered over the railings and looked down the steps that led to the basement. At the foot of the steps was a pile of bodies, slowly rotting.

Somehow resisting the urge to throw up on the spot, Dougie gulped "At least we know what happened to all the bodies now!"

Danny looked down again. "They're all blokes, by the look of things!"

"Turn the girls, eat the boys?" Dougie asked, still feeling nauseous.

Danny just nodded.

They left the ghastly scene behind and, sticking close to the garden wall, carefully walked across the rear courtyard and through the opposite gate into the gardens beyond.

Locating a nearby bush, they ducked down behind it as they decided where to go next.

Dougie was just about to stand up when suddenly, Danny heard the gate they had just come through squeak open. He whirled around to see a girl walking through it. She was carrying a large flask. As quickly as he could, Danny grabbed Dougie and dragged him around to the other side of the bush. Turning to close the gate behind her, the girl hadn't seen them.

They watched her cross the garden, to the summerhouse beyond. She kept glancing up at the sky nervously and was careful to stick to the shadows.

"She must be a vampire," hissed Dougie.

She knocked on the door of the summerhouse, waited for a moment and then stepped inside. A short while later, she emerged, without the flask.

The boys looked at each other. They just had to know what or who was inside the summerhouse and what had been in the flask.

They waited until they were as sure as they could be that the coast was clear and darted across the garden. Stealing around to the side of the summerhouse, they found a window where there was a gap in the curtains and peeped in.

They both turned and gasped at each other at what they saw.

It was Harry!


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six

Danny and Dougie both gaped at each other and then looked back through the window. It was definitely Harry. He was lying, bare-chested, on a bed. His head was tipped back and his eyes were closed. They could see a huge angry-looking wound on his chest and his skin was deathly pale.

A TV was on in the corner of the room, the volume turned down low. It was clear Harry was badly wounded, as a heap of bloody towels lay discarded on the floor. On a chair next to the bed, sat the flask they had seen the girl carry across the garden. Its lid had been removed and a glass of a dark, red liquid sat next to it.

Danny tugged at Dougie's sleeve to pull him away from the window and pointed back over to the gate. Reluctantly, Dougie nodded. He wanted to stay and watch Harry, to see if he was ok, but knew they couldn't linger too long out in the open and they needed to get back under cover.

Cautiously, they stole back across the garden and retraced their steps around the side of the house and back to the safety of the woods. Both reeling from everything they had seen, they walked in silence back to Danny's car. Climbing back in, Danny buckled his seatbelt. He turned to Dougie. "So now what?" he asked.

Dougie shrugged. "Dunno," he said. "We know Tom and Harry are both still 'alive'" he hooked his fingers to indicate speech marks. "So at least we have a hope of getting them back…" he tailed off and shrugged again. "But how we get them to drink the potion…fuck knows!"

Danny sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. "Harry looked like he was in a bad way…" he said finally.

"Yeah" said Dougie.

"I wonder if we could put the potion into that flask Harry had at the side of his bed? It was obviously blood, so he'd drink it and Bingo!"

"But how are we going to get the potion into the flask?" Dougie asked the obvious question. "We can't just go up to that vampire girl and say 'Hey – can you give this to Harry as well please?'"

"No" agreed Danny. "It's gonna be tricky!"

"Tricky?!" exclaimed Dougie. "Tricky?! It's gonna be damn near fucking impossible!"

Danny sighed again. "Well, we've got to do something!"

"We're gonna have to go back to the house again tonight and just see what happens!" said Dougie quietly.

As evening fell, they headed back to the mansion once again. They both knew that time was starting to run out and if they didn't manage to get Tom and Harry back soon, it was likely they never would. They hid in the bushes and watched as a steady stream of cars arrived in front of the house and the excited partygoers climbed out and went into the house.

"They have no idea what's in store for them!" Danny muttered.

They bided their time, alternating between lurking in the bushes and peeping through the window. After a couple of hours Dougie nudged Danny and nodded towards Tom who had just entered the party room and was mingling with the guests. Dougie whispered in Danny's ear "I gotta go pee! I'll be right back!" Danny nodded and watched as Dougie disappeared off into the darkness. His legs and back were starting to get stiff and as he turned back around to look through the window once more, he slipped slightly, causing him to stand up a bit more than he really wanted to.

Or was safe to do so, as it turned out, as at the exact same moment Danny's head and torso appeared above the windowsill, Tom happened to be passing the window. For a moment, both men gawped at each other, and then Danny quickly slipped from the window and ran as fast as he could to get around the side of the building and out of sight. He had no idea where Dougie had gone.

Danny cautiously peered around the edge of the house and saw Tom standing in the middle of the area where he had just been spotted. Cringing, Danny closed his eyes and threw his head back. What the hell was he going to do now? He couldn't risk Dougie coming back and bumping into Tom as he re-took his observation position.

"Time to bite the bullet, Jones" he said to himself and, taking a deep breath, he headed back around the side of the house and walked straight towards Tom.

He tried to walk casually, like he wasn't afraid of his old friend, but inside, every part of him was screaming at him to run away. He fought off the urge, as he knew he was unlikely to get another chance to try and save Tom and he just had to give it a go.

"Danny?!" asked Tom. He still sounded exactly the same, even though his appearance was altered.

Danny raised his arm and waved awkwardly. "Hi, Tom" he said, trying to keep his voice steady. "How's it going?"

Tom laughed "Great! It's going great." He swept his arm around to indicate the party, which was in full swing behind him. "As you can see!"

"Yeah" Danny chuckled nervously. "Yeah, looks like a great party!"

"Oh it will be!" said Tom. "Why don't you come and join me?"

Danny hesitated "Erm, really?" he asked.

"Yeah! Why not?" Tom said. Danny had now come to within a couple of paces of Tom, who stepped towards him and looked around in the darkness. "Where's Dougie?"

"I have no idea!" said Danny, truthfully. He was praying Dougie was watching from a concealed position and wouldn't show himself.

Tom put a friendly arm around Danny's shoulders. "It's really good to see you mate!" he said warmly. "I've really missed you! Come on!" and with that, he began to walk Danny towards the house.

Dougie had been watching and had seen what had happened. Had Danny lost his mind? What was he up to? Why hadn't Tom attacked him on the spot?

He wrestled with himself for a while wondering whether to step forward and make himself known, but figured maybe it was better to stay hidden for a while and watch what happened.

Once Tom and Danny had gone back inside the house, he carefully made his way back to the window. Cautiously, he peered through and could see Tom and Danny chatting to some girls and some men too. Danny was trying to look relaxed, but Dougie could make out a glint of terror in his eyes.

Back inside, Tom introduced Danny to some of the party guests. He smiled and politely shook hands with all sorts of people, all the while wondering whether to tell them why they were there and what was going to happen later on. Suddenly, a girl ran screaming through the room and bumped into a startled Danny, who over balanced and crashed awkwardly into Tom. A few seconds later a man followed her through the room, laughing. He caught up with the girl at the door who screamed again, but then started to laugh as he grabbed her and kissed her roughly.

Tom started to laugh and Danny joined in. "What did I bash into?" asked Tom, rubbing his hip. "Are you that pleased to see me?"

Danny laughed and lifted his t-shirt slightly to show the canteen he had attached to his belt. "I, er, brought my own!" he said nervously, detaching the container from its holster.

"Do you want some?" he asked Tom. This could be his big chance!

Tom shook his head. "No thanks!" he replied, "But you knock yourself out!" he stood and watched Danny, expecting him to take a drink.

Danny laughed nervously again, hoping Tom would stop watching him suspiciously. But he didn't. He could feel Tom's dead eyes boring into him and he knew he was going to have to take a swig before he would leave it.

Slowly, Danny unscrewed the cap of the canteen and lifted it to his lips. It smelt orangey and as he swallowed the weird liquid, he felt a strange warmth radiating through his limbs and everything in front of his eyes seemed to "pop" into sharper focus.

"Cheers!" said Danny, raising the bottle to Tom who smiled coldly and turned away. Danny took another mouthful of the potion and felt the same effect as his fingers and toes tingled and lights seemed to glow brighter. He smiled to himself and looked at the bottle. He felt some of the effects of being drunk, without any of the giddiness or nausea. He felt confident, happy and alive. He wandered around the room, mingling with the guests, most of who knew who he was and were pleased and surprised he was there.

A bevy of girls stood with their backs to one wall. They were all eyeing him distrustfully. "Tom's vampire bitches" Danny thought to himself and vowed to keep a close eye on them. He took another swig from his flask and almost exclaimed as he realised with dismay that he had managed to empty the container. "Bang goes that one!" he said quietly, kicking himself for ruining possibly the last chance he had to get Tom back. He set the canteen down on a nearby table and slumped onto it. He ran his hands through his hair in frustration. What was he going to do now? Halimar had said he had to get Tom to drink the potion. How could he if there was none left? He knew Dougie had another bottleful, but he had no idea where Dougie was and didn't want to arouse suspicion by going off to try and find him or risk Dougie coming in looking for him.

Danny looked up and saw Tom was standing in front of him again. "You all right mate?" he asked. "It's getting late! You feeling a bit worse for wear?"

"Nah" replied Danny quickly. "I'm fine!" he stood up from the table. "Let's have some more!"

Laughing, Tom handed Danny a bottle of beer. He took a drink and then used it to indicate the line of girls Danny had spotted earlier. It was considerably shorter than it had been before and the number of guests in the room seemed to have dwindled also. "Pick one," he said. Danny looked at him in confusion.

"Pick one!" Tom said again. "Any one you want! You can have any of them!"

"More like they can have me" Danny thought to himself but laughed and said out loud "Ok…I'll go and take a closer look!"

He was starting to sweat a bit, so decided to remove his jacket. As he did so, the sleeve caught the canteen on the table beside him and as he lurched forward to catch it, the crucifix he was wearing on a chain around his neck swung out from under his t-shirt.

Snarling, Tom leapt backwards from him like he had been stung. "I knew it!" he exclaimed. "I knew it! I knew you were here to try and trick me! You're here to kill me, aren't you? Just like we tried to do to Harry!"

Much as Danny wanted to find out about Harry, he had to try and defuse the situation. He spread his hands wide as he attempted to placate Tom, whose appearance had changed completely. His eyes were flashing yellow and his sneering mouth revealed his teeth.

"Honestly Tom, I'm not here to kill you!" Danny pleaded with his friend. "I missed you and I wanted to see if you were all right!"

Tom wasn't falling for it and lunged forward snarling and with super-human strength he pushed Danny to the floor and sank his teeth into his jugular.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter Seven

Dougie watched helplessly through the window as he saw Danny and Tom's conversation become more and more heated. It was all he could do to stop himself from crying out in terror as Tom lunged towards him and sank his teeth into Danny's neck.

The tears flowed down Dougie's cheeks as freely as the blood spurted from Danny's neck as Tom drank from his former band mate. Dougie recoiled from the window in horror as Tom threw Danny's limp body to the floor and threw his head back and howled with an animal ferocity. "That!" shouted Tom, pointing his finger at Danny and waving his arm wildly around the room at the onlookers "That is why you do _not_ mess with me!"

The room descended into chaos as the female vampires in the room descended upon the remaining terrified partygoers and in a frenzy of hunger and lust. Tom stood in the middle of the turmoil and surveyed the scene feeling immensely pleased with himself. He had never felt more in charge. He had never felt more powerful. He internally chastised himself for trusting Danny and for letting his remaining human emotions get the better of him and resolved never to let it happen again. Beckoning to the nearest vampire bitches, he left the carnage behind him and retired to his chambers to vent his frustrations.

Dougie had seen enough. He fled into the woods and back towards Danny's car. He had almost reached the parking spot when he realised Danny had the keys in his pocket. He couldn't get away. It was ten miles to the nearest town. He checked his mobile phone. No service. "Fuck!" he shouted in a combination of fear, frustration and anger. He knew he should have gone in with Danny. When he had come back and seen Danny and Tom talking outside the house he had hidden in panic and didn't know what to do. Now Danny was gone too and he was completely and totally alone. Desperation and loneliness hit him and he sank down against the wheel of Danny's Range Rover and sobbed.

He wasn't sure how long he sat there, but he suddenly became aware that his surroundings were changing from grey and drab as the early morning sun's fingers infiltrated the night. Wiping his eyes on his sleeve, Dougie got to his feet and pondered what to do next. There was nothing for it but to head back to the house.

Back at the house, sunlight began to shine in through the windows of the party room. One beam fell upon Danny's prone form. He lay awkwardly where Tom had thrown him, his arms and legs twisted unnaturally. As the warmth began to permeate his clothes, Danny began to stir. He raised his head a few inches and blearily opened his eyes. Blinking, the room began to come into focus and, with a rush the events of a few hours previously came flooding back. His head swam and he lapsed back into unconsciousness once again.

It may have been hours or just minutes later when Danny came to again. He opened his eyes once more. He could see bodies littering the floor nearby, their eyes open, their mouths gaping in expressions of sheer terror. Danny realised he was in discomfort and cautiously began to move his arms and legs. They all responded, slowly and he managed to sit up on the floor. His neck hurt and automatically he put his hand to the source of the pain and felt wetness beneath his fingers. Bringing them in front of his face he saw blood and remembered again what had happened before. He realised he needed to get away. His legs felt wobbly beneath him but with a rush of adrenalin they snapped into action and he hardly gave a backwards glance as he headed out of the room and blinking stepped into the sunlight. Abruptly, he stopped. What was he to do now? He fell to his knees as his energy disappeared and the next thing he knew, Dougie was preventing him from hitting the ground. He looked up into his friend's face gratefully as he blacked out once again.

Tom awoke with a start. He felt a sudden sharp stabbing pain in his chest. It was the worst indigestion he had ever had. Crankily pushing the vampire bitches from where they were draped across his body, he got to his feet. Grabbing his robe, he stomped down to the kitchen to try and find some Rennie. Rubbing his eyes as he walked slowly down the stairs, he ran his hands through his hair. Now he was upright, he also felt sick.

Suddenly doubling over, he vomited into a nearby plant pot. As he straightened up and wiped his mouth he wondered idly why he was feeling so rough. He hadn't had a hangover since he had become a vampire. But he had been drinking whiskey the night before and it never used to agree with him before. Shrugging, he continued down the stairs.

Finding the Rennie in the kitchen, he drew a glass of water from the tap. As he chewed the chalky tablets and washed them down, his eye was drawn to something outside the window. He put the glass down and looked more closely. Was that Dougie crouching in the middle of the car park, struggling to hold Danny? But, he was dead! He had made sure of it! "Double-crossing bastards!" Tom muttered as he made his way towards the door.

"Danny!" shouted Dougie as he sprinted from the woods and across the gravel as he saw Danny sink to his knees. He just managed to catch him before he hit the ground and held him as he blacked out. Struggling to carry his weight, he gently laid him down on the ground and anxiously looked around. It was broad daylight, so he thought they could be fairly sure no vamps would come out of the house, but he was aware that if anyone looked out of the window, they would be spotted for sure.

Suddenly, a noise from the main door made him whirl around and he saw a very angry-looking Tom running across the yard towards them. Dougie panicked. Should he stay with Danny or should he make a run for it? There was no way he would be able to get away dragging Danny's unconscious form, so he decided to stay and face his former friend. Dougie watched in horror as Tom slowed from a run to a walk and cried out in pain as the sunlight hit him. Tom collapsed on the ground less than six feet from him. Smoke was pouring from his body like an extinguished candle and unnatural noises of pain and fear were coming from his mouth. Dougie waited for the inevitable explosion of flame and ash and got ready to shield Danny from the resulting debris, but it didn't come.

Tom collapsed unconscious in a heap on the ground, still smoking gently. Another loud noise made Dougie look up. The clock in the tower was chiming midday. "Shit!" Dougie exclaimed, not knowing what to do. Then, "Fuck! Shit!" He had no idea whether Danny had managed to get Tom to drink any of the potion or not, but the fact that Tom had not yet been reduced to a pile of ashes, made Dougie realise that he just had to try the last phase of Halimar's "cure". He knew Danny had the parchment in his pocket. Frantically, he rifled inside Danny's jacket and pulled out the crumpled sheet.

Unrolling it as he dashed to Tom's side, he squinted at the strange words on the paper and uncertainly began to read. As he finished reading, he looked down at Tom. No change. His body was still smouldering. Dougie wondered what to do next when Danny began to groan.

"Whaaa…" Danny said, blearily.

Dougie went to his side. "You all right?" he asked, uncertainly.

"Yeah" said Danny slowly, trying to sit up. He spotted Tom's body lying on the ground and started slightly. "Shit!" he exclaimed. "Is that Tom?"

"Yeah" said Dougie quietly.

"Is he, is he…alive?" Danny asked.

"Not sure" replied Dougie. "He's still Tom-shaped so that's a good start I guess!"

"What time is it?!" asked Danny frantically, looking up at the clock. "Shit! We missed it! What do we do now?"

"I read the parchment," said Dougie.

"You did?" Danny asked, incredulously. "And?"

"And…I'm not sure!" said Dougie, shrugging his shoulders. "I don't know if it worked 'cos he didn't drink the potion, did he?"

"No" said Danny, slowly, remembering. "But I did!"

"Hmm" Dougie frowned. "Well that's no good then!"

"No! Wait!" Danny exclaimed. "But Tom bit me! Maybe he got some of the potion when he drank my blood?"

"Maybe" said Dougie, moving over to where Tom lay. He still looked the same, but his body had stopped smoking. He looked over to Danny. "Maybe it was enough?"

"What now?" Danny asked.

Dougie shrugged again. "We get the fuck out of here before the vamps spot us?"

Danny nodded vigorously. "Sounds like a plan!"

With some difficulty, Danny got to his feet. He still felt incredibly woozy and a bit sick, but the adrenaline began to course through his veins at the thought of being attacked again and helped motivate his body into action.

They both struggled to half drag, half-carry Tom's prone form into the safety of the woods and then Dougie dashed off alone to go and collect Danny's car.

Dougie ran through the woods as fast as his legs would carry him. He got into the car and hesitated for a moment. He didn't really want to approach the house up the driveway, as it would make too much noise, so he decided to cut through the woods. The pathway was narrow and he cringed as the bushes scraped along the bodywork of the car and overhanging branches bashed against the roof and the windscreen, but he managed to park up only a short distance from where Danny and Tom were resting. They heaved Tom's unconscious body into the boot and set off back the way they had come.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter Eight

They emerged from the woods and headed out on the road. Dougie had no idea where they were heading. Danny had just told him to drive. Dougie glanced across at his friend, slumped in the passenger's seat, with his head bumping against the window as they drove along. The wound on his neck looked angry and very painful and a steady trickle of blood oozed from it and down onto his t-shirt.

After about half an hour, they arrived in the nearest small town. Dougie pulled over to the side of the road and cautiously shook Danny's shoulder. Slowly, his eyes flickered open and he blinked and looked around him and then over at Dougie.

"All right mate?" he asked, his voice slightly slurred. "Where are we?"

"I've just stopped in the first town," Dougie said. "Are you ok?"

Danny rubbed his eyes with his hand. "Yeah, I think so. I feel shattered and a bit pissed!"

"I think you've lost a lot of blood," said Dougie, indicating Danny's stained t-shirt.

"Shit!" Danny exclaimed looking down at his shirt. His hand went to his neck and came away covered in blood again. Dougie fished a slightly grubby hanky from his pocket and offered it to Danny.

"I think you should probably hold this over the wound until it stops bleeding?" he suggested.

Danny took it from him gratefully. "Well" he said, chuckling slightly. "How glad am I, I decided against the cream leather?!"

Dougie smiled thinly. "What are we going to do now?" he asked quietly.

Danny thought for a moment and then said, "I'm not really sure. We need to go somewhere quiet so we can check how Tom is and I really need to sleep!"

"I remember passing a house advertising 'Farmhouse B&B' back that way," Dougie pointed further down the road in the direction they were travelling.

"Sounds like a plan" Danny agreed, settling back in his seat again.

Doug restarted the engine and pulled out onto the road.

After a short while, they came across the bed and breakfast place. They turned off and pulled onto the driveway. There didn't seem to be anyone else there.

Dougie looked at Danny. "I guess I'd better go in?" he asked and got out of the car.

He crossed the parking area and knocked on the front door. A cheery voice called "Coming!" from inside and after a short while, the door opened and a short rosy-cheeked woman stood there. Dougie looked at her in amazement. If someone had asked him to imagine a farmer's wife, she would have looked exactly like this little woman who stood in front of him.

"Hello my dear" she said cheerily, wiping her hands on her apron.

"Er hi" said Dougie. He rubbed his neck nervously. "Er.. I, we were just passing and wondered if you had any rooms tonight?"

"Yes of course!" the little lady beamed at him. "Come in! Come in!"

Dougie followed her into an archetypal farmhouse kitchen and sat down on the chair she indicated to him. She pulled a big thick book towards her and flipped through the pages.

"How many nights do you want to stay?" she asked him.

"Err, not sure yet" Dougie replied, uncertainly. "Two or three?"

The woman smiled at him and said, "That should be ok. How many of you are there? You and your girlfriend?"

"Err no" Dougie replied, feeling nervous again. "Me and my two friends".

The lady almost imperceptibly raised her eyebrows at him. "Three boys eh? You travelling?"

"Something like that" Dougie replied quietly.

"So you'll be wanting three rooms?" the lady asked.

"If you have them, yes please," said Dougie.

The lady consulted her book. "I have three rooms available for the next two nights, but then only two after that".

"Ok, that's fine" the lady replied. "What name shall I put it under?"

"Jones" said Dougie, not wanting to give his unusual surname and risk drawing unwanted attention to them.

The lady scribbled a few details into her book and then looked up at Dougie. "Do you have any bags with you?"

"Only small ones" Dougie replied. "They're still in the car".

"Well, I'll show you to your rooms and then if you need help bringing them in, I'll call Jack, my husband to give you a hand. I'm Ethel, by the way" she said, holding out her hand.

"Dougie" he replied, shaking her outstretched hand.

Ethel showed Dougie out to the back of the property to what seemed to be a converted stable block. It had three doors. She unlocked one door and showed him inside. Smiling at him for his approval she showed him where the bathroom was.

"Very nice" said Dougie smiling and nodding.

Ethel indicated another door. "These are our family rooms, so there are interconnecting doors. That way you and your friends can speak to each other without having to go outside".

"Perfect" said Dougie.

Ethel withdrew and handed the keys over to Dougie. He waited a few moments and then left himself and headed back to the car. Climbing back in, Danny was fast asleep. He gently shook him again and told him he had got them rooms. After a brief discussion, they decided to drive the car a bit further around the side of the main farmhouse so they could get Tom, who was still unconscious, into the rooms without being spotted.

Having managed this with some difficulty as Danny was struggling to walk himself, let alone carry Tom, they all collapsed onto the bed. They must have both fallen asleep as a sharp cry started them awake.

"Guys!" Tom shouted. He was sitting bolt upright on the bed and looking frantically around him with a look of complete terror on his face.

Danny and Dougie both leapt off the bed like they had been stung and stood close together staring at Tom.

"Where the hell are we?" Tom was shouting. "We need to go! We need to get away! They're going to get us if we stay here!"

"Who Tom?" Danny asked.

"The vampires!" Tom yelled. "They're in…there…" his voice tailed off and he lowered the hand he had been waving wildly in the vague direction of their pursuers.

Tom looked confused and scared "Where are we? What's happening?"

Danny and Dougie moved back to Tom and sat down either side of him on the bed.

"It's ok mate," said Danny softly, putting a comforting arm around his friend's shoulders, "We're safe"

"But…but…but how?" Tom asked.

Danny and Dougie looked at each other and then began to tell Tom the story of what had happened.

When they had finished, Tom looked open-mouthed at them, hardly believing what he had heard.

He looked at Danny. "I bit you?"

"Yeah" said Danny, his hand automatically going to the bandage on his neck. The wound wouldn't stop bleeding and he was running out of clean t-shirts, so had given up getting changed and was just making do with draping a towel around his neck to soak up the blood.

Dougie looked over at Danny. He was worried about the amount of blood he was losing.

"We need to get you to a hospital" he said quietly.

"And say what, exactly?" Danny asked. "We had a bit of a mishap with a barbeque fork?"

Dougie shrugged "Dunno" he said "But you've lost a hell of a lot of blood…"

"I'll be ok," said Danny, clear he wanted to drop the subject. He looked back at Tom, who was staring into space, clearly struggling to process the information he had just been given.

"You all right?" Danny asked Tom.

Tom looked up slowly. "No. Not really" he said quietly. "But I am bloody starving!"

"There's a pub just down the road from here," Dougie suggested. "We could get some food there?"

"Sounds good!" said Danny, collecting his keys. "Let's go!"

"Think you'd better get changed before we go?" said Dougie, indicating

They all headed out to the car and drove the short distance to the nearby pub. Settling themselves into a quiet corner of the backroom, it wasn't long before a waitress came over to take their order.

She raised her eyebrows slightly in recognition at the three of them sitting there, before taking their orders.

They ordered soft drinks. Dougie and Tom both opted for bacon burgers, but Danny went for a combo platter, requesting that the steak was served rare.

When their food arrived, they ate quietly for a few minutes. Dougie watched Danny with mild amusement as he devoured his massive plate of meat. His pleasure turned to concern as he saw the relish with which Danny was eating the steak, which was so rare it was almost still mooing.

Breaking the silence, Dougie cleared his throat. "So what happens now?" he asked, no one in particular.

Tom thought for a moment and then replied, "We've got to go back." Danny and Dougie looked at him expectantly. "You've got me back, we can't leave Harry. We've got to get him back as well"

Dougie nodded in agreement. "But how do we get him to drink the potion?"

Danny thought for a moment. "He looked pretty sick when we saw him. Maybe we can overpower him and force him to drink it?"

Dougie snorted. "I reckon he'd still best all of us, even if he's operating at half strength! I mean, you guys would probably have the best chance, but neither of you are exactly at your best at the moment, are you?"

Danny and Tom looked at each other, before nodding in agreement.

"We'll have to trick him into drinking it somehow" said Tom.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter Nine

"Well that's gonna be easier said than done!" said Danny. "I mean" he said, gesturing at Tom with his knife "you weren't exactly snatching it off me!"

Tom shook his head "Can't remember!" he said, wearily. "Let's go over what we know…" he looked up, a renewed vigour in his eyes.

"Danny, you drank all the potion" Tom said, to which Danny nodded. "Then, when I bit you…I must have got some of the potion into my bloodstream, which was enough, combined with the verses read by Dougie and the midday sun, to turn me back".

"But are you back?" asked Dougie. Tom still didn't seem to be 100% back to his old self. He was still a bit, well, "vampy".

Tom looked at Dougie in surprise. "Well, yeah…yeah, I think I am!" he said slowly. "I feel like me…I don't remember anything after we staked Harry in the studio and I've been out in the sun without bursting into flames! So, yeah. I'd say I'm back!"

"Ok then" said Dougie, seemingly convinced.

"I've gotta go take a leak guys" Danny said, rising from his seat. Tom and Dougie watched him cross the room.

"But what about him?" Dougie nodded in the direction Danny had just gone.

Tom thought for a moment. He seemed like the same old Danny, if you looked past the continually bleeding wound on his neck. "What do you mean?" he asked Dougie.

"Well" Dougie started. "He's got that fucking great wound on his neck that won't stop bleeding" Tom cringed with the guilt he felt for inflicting an injury that he had no recollection of causing.

"He's just demolished that plate of meat like he hasn't eaten for months" Dougie was ticking the points off on his fingers. "And he's as white as a sheet!"

Tom sat quietly for a moment, contemplating the points Dougie had made. "He's lost a lot of blood," he said, thinking aloud. "So, he's bound to be pale. His iron count is probably down, hence why he's craving meat and…and…I'm not sure about the wound!"

"Maybe the potion thinned his blood or something?" Dougie suggested.

Tom nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah, or maybe, maybe vampire spit is like mosquito's, where it stops the blood from clotting so it can be drunk more easily?"

Dougie shuddered at the thought, but having not been able to come up with a more satisfactory answer, conceded that Tom was probably right.

Danny re-joined them at the table. He grinned round at Tom and Dougie "Who's up for desert then?" He rubbed his hands together eagerly and reached for the menu.

Tom and Dougie looked at each other. "He's fine!" said Tom and Dougie nodded. They managed to persuade Danny to have the chocolate and apricot tart and to wash it down with a couple of pints of Guinness, having explained to him that he needed to rebuild his iron levels.

Danny confessed: "To be honest guys, I don't really get what you're on about, but I'm not complaining!"

Since Tom had returned, Danny's mood had improved dramatically, but Dougie still remained downcast and reflective. They all knew they had to try and get Harry back, but Dougie really didn't rate their chances very highly.

Back at their B&B, they sat with their heads close together, studying Halimar's parchment.

"So you translated this, and it sounds like the lyrics to 'Party Girl'" Tom asked, his voice heavy with disbelief.

"Yeah" said Danny, reaching for his MacBook. He opened Google translate and carefully copied one of the lines of text, clicked "translate" and turned the laptop round to face Tom.

Tom read it carefully and then frowned "Yeah, it is quite similar isn't it. Weird!"

"So what do we do now?"

"Well" Dougie said slowly. "We already know what we have _got_ to do. The question is _how_ we do it!"

Danny began to tell Tom what he and Dougie had seen when they peered through the window of the summerhouse.

After thinking for a while, Tom said, "If he's in such a bad way, between the three of us, we might be able to overpower him? Force him to drink the potion?"

Reluctantly, Danny and Dougie agreed that there wasn't really an alternative option open to them.

"But what about the vampire girls?" Dougie pointed out. "What if they hear something or just happen to come along?"

"We'll have to go during the day," said Danny. "We know what time the girl visited him last time and she didn't stay for long, so hopefully they stick to a routine and we can go in without being interrupted."

Tom and Dougie nodded their agreement. "Do we need to make more potion?" asked Danny. "We've only got the one bottle left. Will it still be ok?"

Dougie fetched a glass from the bathroom and carefully poured a small amount of the strange liquid into it. They all peered at it intently. "It still looks the same," said Danny, picking the glass up and examining it closely. He sniffed it gingerly "It still smells the same". Raising the glass to his lips he took a sip and pulled a face "Yeah, it still tastes the same too!"

They decided to make another bottle, just to be on the safe side, in case the one they had got spilled in some way, so they set up the little stove and brewed up in the same way as they had before, pointing out the Tom how weird it was that the stone was cold, but the potion bubbled and steamed as if it was boiling.

All feeling exhausted, they turned in for the night, knowing that tomorrow was likely to be their last opportunity to try and get Harry back. Too much time had passed and they knew from messages they had received from Richard that questions were starting to be asked about their whereabouts and the fact that they seemed to have dropped off the face of the earth. Tom had tried to allay fears by tweeting a short message that they had all been working hard but had been without reliable Internet, but he feared it had done more harm than good, judging from the influx of replies he got, not only from fans, but also from their friends and families, who were questioning their plans vigorously.

The following morning, all three woke with a feeling of impending doom and there was a definite cloud hanging over the three of them as they ate their breakfast in near silence.

Once they had finished eating, they packed up the few items they needed into Danny's Range Rover and drove the short, but now very familiar, distance back to the house.

It was completely deserted when they arrived. There were no cars in the front yard, there were no sounds coming from the house at all. Danny and Dougie led Tom to the front window, where they had spent much time watching the goings on inside the house. But this time, they could see nothing. The "party room" was empty. There was no evidence of anything having taken place there. There were no balloons, plates, empty glasses or bodies. Nothing.

Looking at each other in surprise. Danny voiced what the others were thinking, "The place looks empty!"

Tom and Dougie nodded. "Maybe the vampire girls have moved on?" Tom suggested.

"Maybe," Dougie said cautiously. "Or they've shacked up with Harry again?"

Tom and Danny stared at him in disbelief. "Oh, I really hope not!" said Tom.

Dougie looked grim-faced. "We need to go and find out!"

Quietly and carefully, the three made their way around the side of the house until the gate to the rear garden was in sight. Danny and Dougie glanced down the stairwell to the cellar that had previously held the pile of decomposing bodies, but again, these had all vanished. Not even the stench remained.

Making sure no one was watching, they stealthily crossed the back yard and slipped through the gate. Locating a nearby bush that was large enough for them all to hide behind, they dashed across the open ground until they were safely concealed. Peeping around the bush, they could see the summerhouse clearly. It looked the same to Danny and Dougie as it had before, quiet and still, with no outward signs of life.

Danny was still peering around the side of the bush, when he quickly ducked his head back behind and hissed to Tom and Dougie "The door's opening! Someone's in there!"


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter Ten

As the figure emerged slowly from the summerhouse, Danny and Dougie looked at each other in astonishment. It was Halimar.

"Halimar?" breathed Dougie. "What's he doing here?"

Danny shrugged, as mystified as Dougie was. Tom looked thoughtful for a moment and then said "The guy from Romania?"

"Yeah" said Danny, nodding. "He gave us the vampire stuff and told us how to turn you back".

"But why, why would he be here?" Tom asked.

Danny shrugged again. "No idea" he started to say and then suddenly "What if he's come to kill Harry?!"

Dougie stared at him wide-eyed "No way!" he said. "No way! We didn't tell him where we were or anything! How could he know?"

"We've got to find out if Harry is still alive!" said Tom.

They watched as Halimar lifted the hood of his long cloak and shiftily exited the summerhouse, closing and locking the door behind him. He looked all around before making his way hurriedly across the garden, his speed belying his apparent age. Danny, Dougie and Tom collectively held their breath as he passed within a few feet of where they were hiding. For a moment, Dougie wondered about leaping out and asking him what he was up to, but he thought better of it.

Once they were sure he had gone, the threesome stealthily made their way back across the garden, furtively glancing back at the house to make sure they weren't being watched or followed. They made their way around to the back of the summer house and cautiously peered through the window. Harry was still lying on the bed in virtually the same position he had been when they saw him before. He was still sporting the angry-looking wound, which looked shiny, and they could see trickles of blood slowly running down his bare chest. What was different though, was the drip he was now attached to. At least, it looked like a drip.

It was hard to see through the dirt-encrusted windows, but there was a tube running from a cannula attached to the inside of Harry's left elbow which ran to a bag attached to a stand on the bedside table. The dark red liquid inside it was unmistakably blood.

"He looks worse than he did before!" Danny commented. "I thought vamps were supposed to heal quickly?"

Tom laughed grimly and said, "You've been watching too much 'Buffy', mate!"

But there was no denying the truth of Danny's observation. Harry did look to be in a bad way. Perhaps that's why Halimar was there? Was he trying to help? Trying to cure him?

The boys pondered what to do next. Dougie was all for going in and seeing if they could either speak to or overpower Harry and get him to drink the potion, but Danny and Tom thought this was a really bad idea and managed to persuade him round to their way of thinking.

After an hour or so of taking turns to watch Harry, who didn't move a muscle, and to check for movement up at the house, Danny returned to his friends with the news that Halimar was coming back to the summerhouse. He re-took his position next to them as they peered through the small window.

They saw Halimar come in through the door and remove the hood of his cloak. He crossed to where Harry was lying, but he didn't look at him. He checked the bag that Harry was attached to and carefully disconnected it, before re-attaching an empty bag and stowing the full one inside his cloak. Only after he'd completed this operation did he turn his attention to Harry. He carefully, almost affectionately, placed his hand on Harry's cheek and patted it gently but firmly. The boys heard him murmur Harry's name and then something incomprehensible, presumably in Romanian.

Harry's eyes flickered open and he turned his head slowly to look at Halimar. He blinked slowly several times and started to open his mouth. Halimar spoke softly and Danny, Tom and Dougie strained to hear what he was saying.

"Hush" Halimar said. "Don't speak, my son". He reached into another pocket inside his cloak and withdrew a glass vial containing a purple liquid. He removed the stopper and placing one hand behind Harry's head, he lifted it slightly and placed the vial to Harry's lips.

Halimar poured the liquid into Harry's mouth and as he swallowed, Harry cried out in pain and tried to move away, but Halimar's grip was strong and he forced Harry to drink all of the liquid, despite Harry's feeble protestations and attempts to wrest his head from Halimar's grasp.

Danny, Dougie and Tom watched from outside the window, feeling increasingly aggrieved but completely helpless.

Eventually, Halimar laid Harry's head back down on the pillow and patted his cheek once more. Harry looked up at the old man with obvious pain in his eyes. Halimar smiled down at him kindly, but a wicked grin played around his lips. "Soon, my son" he said. "Soon all will be over and you will be in pain now more. Sleep now, _mea renaștere Pornire_". With a final check on the rapidly filling bag Harry was attached to, Halimar raised his hood and left the building once again.

It was all Danny and Tom could do to stop Dougie from storming around the front of the summerhouse and confronting Halimar after witnessing his treatment of their friend, but once again they managed to convince him to wait until they knew what was going on for sure.

The boys sat in silence, none of them knowing what to say or what to suggest they did. Tom felt particularly wretched as he had already been saved and felt a very strong sense of loyalty and longing to rescue Harry and re-complete the band. He sat with his head in his hands, partly in despair and partly desperately trying to come up with a plan. Suddenly, Danny nudged him and brought him back to the present with a jolt.

"Dougie's gone!" Danny exclaimed!

"What?" Tom hissed sharply. "Gone? Where? When?"

Danny shrugged and shook his head. "I went off for a pee and when I came back, you were alone!"

"Shit!" Tom exclaimed. "Where the fuck is he?"

Danny nodded up at the window. "I'll give you one guess"

Leaping to their feet, Danny and Tom both looked through the window into the summerhouse. Sure enough, Dougie was standing over Harry, looking down at him, the desperation Tom felt etched all over his face. Danny tapped softly on the window. Dougie looked over in the direction of the noise, alarm registering on his face as he saw Tom and Dougie watching him. He slowly shook his head and made a pleading motion towards them with his hands.

Danny slowly nodded. He understood how much Dougie wanted to save Harry. They all did. This might be their last chance to get him back and if Dougie had a plan, it was worth giving it a shot.

Quietly, Dougie spoke Harry's name. There was no response from the prone form lying in front of him. Dougie cleared his throat nervously and tried again, a little louder. "Harry?" he said "Harry? Can you hear me?" Still no response.

Desperation starting to get the better of him, Dougie gingerly placed one hand on his friend's shoulder. His skin felt cold and clammy. He almost recoiled at the sensation, but kept it there and gave Harry's shoulder a gentle shake as he tried again: "Harry? Harry can you hear me?"

Suddenly, with an animal snarl, Harry's arm jerked across his body and grabbed Dougie's hand. "Get off me you bastard!"

Dougie yelped and tried to pull his hand away, but Harry's grip was strong and he couldn't break free. Sitting up suddenly on the bed, baring his teeth, Harry's eyes snapped open and he gasped in surprise at seeing Dougie standing in front of him.

"Dougie?" he said slowly. "Dougie? Is that you? But…but…"

"Ssssh mate" Dougie said quietly, trying to prevent his voice from shaking. "It's me. It's me!"

Harry let go of Dougie's hand and collapsed back onto the bed. His free arm covered his eyes and Dougie could see his was body shaking slightly. Removing his arm, he realised Harry was laughing.

"Oh mate," said Harry, still chuckling quietly "Are you in over your head?!"

Dougie was puzzled by what he had heard "What are you talking about?"

"This isn't a game!" said Harry, looking up at Dougie. "This is serious!"

"I know," said Dougie, still confused but doing what he could to play along. "I know. I want to help. How can I help?"

"You can't!" snarled Harry suddenly. "It's over, ok? Over."

"What is?" Dougie asked.

"Us. The band. Everything!" Harry replied, suddenly sounding less fierce. "This is me now!" he indicated his teeth and the medical equipment to which he was attached.

"But, I don't understand!" said Dougie. "What's happening to you? What's Halimar doing here?" As soon as the words were out of his mouth, Dougie realised he'd made a grave mistake.

"He's keeping me alive…" Harry began and then sat up in bed again, looking suspiciously at Dougie. He narrowed his eyes and his voice became dangerously quiet. "How do you know his name? You've come here to finish me off, haven't you?" he said accusingly.

"No!" Dougie exclaimed. "No! We've come to save you!"

"We?" asked Harry. "We? You mean Tom and Danny are here too?"

"Yes" Dougie nodded.

"You got away then?" Harry said. "You staked me and left me for dead!"

"I know," said Dougie quietly, looking down at his feet.

"Yet you came back," said Harry. "Why?"

"To save you!" said Dougie defiantly. "To save you and Tom."

"Did it work?" Harry asked. "Did you save Tom?"

"Yes", said Dougie. "He's…he'll take a while to recover, but yeah, he's back"

Harry frowned. "And so you thought you'd do the same to me? Having tried to kill me once?"

Dougie looked ashamed and he moved closer to the bed once again. "I'm sorry," he said. "We weren't thinking back then. We should have found a different solution".

"Well…" said Harry slowly. "There is one other ending"

"What's that?" Dougie asked, looking into Harry's eyes.

"I take you with me!" Harry said, lunging forward and grabbing Dougie's arm. In one swift move, he twisted his arm behind his back. Dougie cried out in pain as he heard and felt his bone break. Even incapacitated, Harry still had super-human strength.

He pulled Dougie down onto the bed in front of him and glanced across at the window where Tom and Danny looked on in horror. He smiled evilly at his former band mates as he sank his teeth into Dougie's neck and drank.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter Eleven

Danny leapt to his feet ready to run around to Dougie's aid, but Tom grabbed his arm roughly, preventing him from moving.

"No" he said quietly but firmly. "Stay where you are Danny."

Danny looked down at Tom's hand on his arm and then back at Tom in alarm. Tom was scowling at Danny.

"Why?" He said in a mixture of terror and panic. "We've got to save Dougie!"

"We can't!" Said Tom quietly. "Look!" He pointed through the window.

Harry had finished feeding on Dougie and threw his body off the bed and onto the ground. Danny looked back at Tom in fear. Was Tom somehow still a vampire? Were he and Harry somehow working together? Was this all part of his plan?

Suddenly, in fear of his life, Danny wrestled free of Tom's grasp and dashed around to the front of the summerhouse.

The front door was still shut and locked. Panicking, Danny looked for another way in. He saw a window to the side that was ajar and wrenched it open. He dived through, head first and scrambled through into the room.

Harry blinked at Danny's sudden entrance in surprise, but stretched lazily. "Danny" he said, cool as could be. "How are you mate?"

Danny glanced down at Dougie's prone body on the floor. "You bastard" he hissed through gritted teeth. "How could you?"

"Easy!" Harry laughed. "Come closer and I'll show you!"

Danny rushed towards the bed an angry growl emanating from his throat. "I'll kill you!" He shouted.

Harry moved quickly, standing up from the bed with newfound strength. He laughed again as Danny dived onto the bed and then turned to gawp at Harry in surprise.

Harry regarded Dougie's body on the floor. "I feel much better!" He laughed, grinning evilly. "Thanks for that!"

He started towards Danny. "But I'm still hungry." He licked his lips and started to advance towards where Danny sat frozen in terror on the bed. "You'll do nicely!" he said but then a sudden noise made him turn around sharply.

Tom was standing in the doorway.

"Get away from them, Harry" he said, his voice quiet and dripping with malice.

Harry laughed again "Or what? You'll kill me again? Didn't do such a great job last time, did you, Tom? What makes you think you'll fare any better this time around"?

"I'm warning you Harry. Get away from them" Tom said again.

Harry hesitated momentarily, unsure whether to believe Tom's threat, but it was long enough for Danny to take his chance and launch himself from the bed and onto Harry's back.

The suddenly movement caught Harry by surprise and he cried out as Danny overbalanced him and the two men went crashing to the ground. Harry hit his head hard on the corner of the bedside table and was knocked out cold. Blood began to trickle from the wound on his forehead.

Tom ran over to where Danny and Harry lay on the floor, but then felt helpless again as he tried to figure out what to do next. Where was the potion? Who had it? Should he try to get the now unconscious Harry to drink it? Where the fuck was it?

Suddenly, a hand gripped his ankle. Looking down, he saw Dougie reaching out to him. "The parchment!" He said feebly. "The parchment!"

In the distance, the clock tower began to chime noon.

Suddenly Tom understood. He wrenched Harry from on top of Danny and threw him halfway across the room.

Slightly surprised by the ease with which he had shifted his bulky friend, he shouted "Danny!" and grabbed his hand, hauling him to his feet. "Help me get Harry outside!"

Between them, they managed to drag Harry's unconscious form to the door of the summerhouse. With some difficulty, Tom unlocked the door using the key that was in the lock.

Blinking as they stepped out into the bright sunlight, they managed to haul Harry's body a few yards before they both collapsed from the effort.

Harry's body began to smoke gently, but he did not immediately burst into flames.

Recovering quickly, Tom shouted "The parchment! Where's the parchment?"

"Here!" said Danny, reaching inside his jacket and handing it to Tom.

Tom snatched it from him and unrolled it.

As the midday chimes ended, Tom began to read the strange foreign words, his voice wavering slightly. When he finished, there was no sound, except a few birds tentatively singing to break the silence. Exhausted and not knowing if it had worked, Tom collapsed to the ground.

Then came a louder sound. "No!" screamed a voice, coming from the house. "No! _Ce-ai făcut?"_

Danny and Tom looked up and saw Halimar leaning out of a window of the house for it was he who had shouted to them. He slammed the window shut and moment later appeared at the door and began to stride across the grass towards them. His hood was raised, but in the shadow it cast across his face, they could see his eyes burning, full of malice.

Scrambling to their feet, Tom and Danny turned to face the angry old man who was heading their way.

As he got closer, the sun came out from behind a cloud and Halimar stopped dead in his tracks. He looked up at the sky with a look of horror on his face and turned and fled back in the direction he had come.

Looking at each other in alarm, Tom and Danny set off at a sprint after the old man. They soon caught up to him and grabbed him, shoving him up against the wall of the house.

"You are going to explain right now what the fuck is going on!" Danny shouted, his face inches away from the old man's. Despite everything, Halimar laughed in his face.

"You stupid boy" he cackled. "Don't you see? Your friend is _'de via__ț__ă dătătorul_'! 'The Life Giver!' You did a fine job leading me to him so I could keep him alive!"

"But why?" Said Tom. "You're a vampire killer?"

"Yes" Halimar said, cackling again. "Killer so that I may become _'__bărbătesc'_: stronger and younger once more! But now, you have ruined everything!"

Danny and Tom watched in horror as Halimar a face contorted and he opened his mouth to reveal his teeth.

"You're a bloody vampire too!" Danny exclaimed.

"Not just any vampire" Halimar said, "I am _'Comandantul'_: Master of all vampires! But those that thought to overthrow me weakened my powers. The girls who turned your friend..." he gestured in the direction of Harry's body, which lay hidden from view behind the bushes. Danny and Tom had no idea if he was still there or if he had been reduced to a pile of ashes in the midday sun.

"They wanted to create a new, younger race of vampires. I knew, if I could consume the blood of _'de via__ț__ă dătătorul_' then I would be restored to lead my kind once more!"

Danny and Tom gaped at him in horror. "So...so the stone...and and the dagger?!" Danny said. It wasn't a question but Halimar answered him.

"A cure, as I said it was," he pointed at Tom. "Your friend, he was weak, but he would recover in time"

"But why?" Said Tom "why give them the way to save us if you wanted Harry's blood?"

Halimar shrugged. "You are foolish boys! I did not expect you to succeed!" he said, simply.

"But now, you ruin everything! _'de via__ț__ă dătătorul_' is dead and I have not yet consumed enough blood to be restored!"

"And now you never will!" Danny said and with one swift movement he produced the sacred dagger from inside his jacket and held it aloft.

Halimar yelled in fright at the sight of the dagger and tried to escape from Tom's grasp. The three men struggled for a moment and somehow Danny managed to thrust it into Halimar's neck.

Screaming in agony, Halimar clutched his neck as blood began to spurt from between his fingers. He lurched away from the building and stumbled down the slope. He caught his cloak on a holly bush and then tripped and rolled headlong down into the open garden and into the full sunlight that was now blazing down from the skies.

Danny and Tom watched incredulously as the sunlight hit Halimar and he began to writhe around, screaming in agony as the sunlight burnt through his clothes.

In a matter of moments he had been reduced to a pile of ashes. A sudden breeze blew thought the garden, whipping the grey dust up into the air and spreading it around like a macabre snow flurry.

Unable to move, as though paralysed, Tom and Danny could only regard the scene before them in disbelief. Then, movement caught their eyes as they saw Dougie stumble to the door of the summerhouse and cry out. He half ran, half crawled across the garden. Tom and Danny looked at each other and set off back towards here they had left Harry.

They arrived at the place at the same time as Dougie. Harry was still there! He seemed to be unconscious, but was still in one piece. Dougie collapsed at his side as they all met up.

"Is everyone ok?" Tom asked.

Looking at him, and each other Danny and Dougie both said "Yeah", though Dougie winced in pain from his broken arm. Then they looked down at Harry. They rolled him onto his back. His face looked different. He looked peaceful, like he was sleeping.

"Is he…is he…?" Dougie couldn't bring himself to say the word out loud.

Gingerly, Tom placed his fingers on Harry's neck. When he couldn't feel a pulse straight away, he moved them to a different place. And then to a third.

He looked up at Danny and Dougie and slowly shook his head.

The three of them looked down at Harry. He was gone.

"Fuck it!" shouted Danny, leaping to his feet. He moved a short distance away from Tom and Dougie and began taking his anger and frustration out on the nearest rose bush. Red petals fell off it in a heavy shower.

Tom moved to Danny's side and put his hand on his arm. "Hey" he said softly. "We tried our best".

"But it wasn't good enough!" Danny exclaimed angrily, shrugging off Tom's comforting arm. Sighing, Tom turned back to where Dougie was sitting, staring into space, his back to Harry's body, his arm hanging awkwardly at his side.

He went and joined Dougie as he sat glaring at the garden. Tom sighed again as he sat down on the grass next to Dougie. He didn't know what to say. It was like a bad dream. He couldn't believe this was really happening. To hear they had lost Fletch had been bad enough, but now Harry as well. Losing him for a second time was worse. They had been so close to saving him.

Danny completed the maudlin threesome. He ran his hands through his hair and blew air out of his mouth in exasperation. His anger had gone. He felt numb and helpless. None of them knew how long they sat there in silence, regarding the scene in front of them. They were all thinking the same; there was no need for words and somehow they would make it more real. They all knew what they had to do but none of them could bear to be the first to make a move.

A shadow suddenly loomed over them and the three craned their necks round to find its source. Looking straight up into the sunshine it was difficult to see who it was until he crouched down.

"What's up guys? Someone die?" Harry said with a wry smile on his lips.

THE END


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